Description: This was the 30th annual Spring Show/Swap Meet at the Englishtown/Raceway Park Race Track, located on Pension rd, in Old Bridge New Jersey. The skies were overcast for the early part of the day, and that, plus nearly four dollar a gallon gasoline, compounded by a change for the Show date from late April, to the first weekend in May, would account for the participant turnout being about half what it had been from 1983, to 2001. One factor that probably helped keep the participant turnout from being even lower than it was, would be the change in the rules regarding what types of vehicles were allowed on Saturday and Sunday, and how the vehicles were parked on the Show Field. In years past, even though a “People’s Choice” Trophy award system is used for the Spring Show, one could only bring their Streetrod, Hotrod, Modified, or Racecar on Saturday, and stock production was restricted to Sunday only. Also, up until this year’s Show, vehicles had to be parked by category, one could not park with their friend, nor could one park their own vehicles together, if they were not in the same judging category. In this writer’s opinion, the lifting of the vehicle type restrictions, and category parking restrictions, were two long overdue changes.
The Show date change may have also contributed to the vendor situation, in that many of the big name vendors from years past, were not at this year’s Englishtown/Raceway Park Spring Swap Meet. If the Show date remains in May, it will be a case of wait and see, as to whether or not the regulars will attend the Spring Englishtown/Raceway Park Swap Meet.
Overall though, there was a nice assortment of vehicles on display on the Show Field, including some pre-war Fords, and a Simca, which was a captive import of Chrysler Corp in the early 1960’s.